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Guten Tag from the GSE
Team in Switzerland
We are now in the last week of our exchange in the industrial centre of
Basel, which is also less than one kilometre from the German and French
borders. We are all back with host families again, after spending the 3rd
and 4th weeks (in Tenero and Schwyz respectively) in group accommodation.
The pace of the exchange has slowed down slightly, mostly due to the onset
of the Easter holidays, but we still have an interesting program, and any
spare time is being wisely utilised to increase our appreciation of the
Swiss culture..including visits to museums, spending time with our host
families, and the odd glass of Swiss wine or two - its amazing how similar
our cultures seem after we have shared a bottle of red wine, even the
communication difficulties seem to disappear!
But, just to ensure you don't think things have been too easy, I will give
you a brief outline of our last two weeks.
Week 4 - Schwyz
After finishing our time in the Italian speaking section of Switzerland -
called the Ticnio region - the team again boarded a train, re-crossed the
Alps and headed back towards Lucerne to the town of Einseideln. We were
met
at the train station by Peter from the RC of Einseideln, and in a
wonderful
surprise were shown our transport for the week - a small bus which had `GSE
Team from Australia´ in magnetic letters on both sides and on the front.
This was just the first of many small but extremely thoughtful gestures
the
team from Einseideln had prepared. We were then taken to our accommodation
at a Youth and Education centre - I´m not sure about the youth bit,
but we are
definitely getting an education while we are over here! Our rooms all had
chocolates in them and we had been given a rose at the train station, so
we
were feeling very spoilt.
The week at Einseideln was once again very interesting and particularly
busy
during the day, however as we only had one night engagement (a
presentation
at a joint Rotary Club meeting), we were able to go to bed early a few
nights and catch up on our sleep - another of the thoughtful gestures
which
was very much appreciated. Every day was very busy, but just some of the
interesting sections from our program included the tour of the Einseideln
church and abbey - possibly the most beautiful church I have ever seen, a
visit to a sitting of the Kanton parliament, touring a chocolate factory
(yes, with many tasting opportunities and a lovely big bag of goodies to
take home), taking a sightseeing tour through Zurich, visiting the federal
Water Quality and Research department and visiting a local school and the
ETH - a world famous technology university in Zurich. A memory I will also
keep forever was to watch each member of our team sledding down a frozen
road, with varying levels of style and grace, after a visit to the top of a
snowskiing region at Hoch-Ybrig. Peta lost out on some style and grace
points, but it should be noted this was with the assistance of both Peter
and Ian, who for some reason could not avoid running Peta into the snow
banks!!
Week 5 - Basel
So, we have come to the final week, all relatively in one piece and still
eager to see what else Switzerland has in store. Another train trip to
Basel, and this time we are met by our new host families, although Peter,
Sandra and Ian have a few days in a hotel before their host families can
take them in. Once picked up by my host family, I was taken on a quick
tour
of Basel, including a visit to the Munster church, a ferry ride across the
Rhine River and a chance to stand on the point where three countries meet
(Germany, France and Switzerland). Sunday was a day with our hosts which i
spent having a late brunch, then visiting the Basel zoo, and finally
cooking
up a storm for my hosts for dinner, including a pavlova for dessert - I
shouldn't boast but everybody went back for seconds!!
As I mentioned previously, the final weeks program is a little bit easier
than the first four, but still with an interesting itinerary planned.
Today
(Monday) we have been to a pharmaceutical museum, had a reception with the
Health Minister and toured the Town Hall where all local and Kanton
political decisions used to be made...maybe appropriately this is
traditionally called the Rathaus. In the next few days we will visit three
different schooling institutions, the Basel international airport, make
presentations at two, possibly three, Rotary Clubs and visit the museum of
modern art. On Thursday night we also have a group dinner with the GSE
Team
from Switzerland who are going to District 9640 in Australia in less than
two weeks time. Friday is Good Friday and there is no specific program
planned, although we will all have a brunch with our host families.
Saturday
is then officially the last day of the exchange, and personally, will be a
very sad day when we say goodbye to our host families and face the end of
our GSE exchange experience....but that is still a few days away, so I
will
leave my report for now, but will give a final update once everyone has
returned to Australia.
PS - The weather has turned sunny...after minus 11 degrees in week 2, we
have now gone to warm, sunny conditions and temps of up to 20
degrees...snow
is all melting and spring is in the air...its an interesting (and somewhat
muddy) time to be here, but amazing to see such an abrupt change in
seasons.
Bye for now
The GSE Team in Switzerland
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